DICKINSON - Nine-inning baseball games have surprises their seven-inning brethren would never imagine.

Bismarck rallied for five unearned runs in the final two innings to upend Minot in Saturday's championship game at the Western Division Legion baseball tournament.

The Governors' winning two-run rally in the top of the ninth inning received a generous assist from Providence.

With Minot up 4-3, Bismarck got a break when Minot third baseman Tyler Lundy bobbled Zach Wentz's two-out grounder and then threw it wide to first base, putting men on second and third. Dustin Wenzel coaxed a walk from Minot pitcher Jordan Huettl to load the bases.

That brought up Josh Standing Elk, who rapped a hard groundball to the right side. The ball hit the inside lip of the infield cutout and bounded high over the head of second baseman Teddy Anderson into short right field. Two runs scored on the gift single, giving the Governors their first lead of the game at 5-4.

Matt Kranzler, working his second inning of relief, retired Minot 1-2-3 in the bottom of the ninth to pick up the victory. He fanned two men in the ninth.

Kranzler conceded Standing Elk's game-winning hit may have been a gift, but noted the Governors had to battle to stay in position to receive it.

"Nine innings is a long game and you've got to stick it out," Kranzler said. "You can't give up. You can't get frustrated."

"We kind of felt we didn't catch any breaks early in the game," Kranzler added. "The breaks really haven't gone our way the whole tournament, so it was nice to catch one when it counted."

For most of the nine innings the game was in the hands of Minot right-hander Jordan Martinson, who seemed safely on the way to a 9-0 record. He blanked Bismarck through seven innings, yielding five hits and walking three.

But in the eighth, with Minot up 3-0, trouble came calling. With two out, Bismarck's Dustin Wenzel beat out an infield hit and shortstop Ryne Hornecker booted Standing Elk's groundball to put runners on first and second.

At that point, Minot coach Todd Larson brought lefty Ryan Bollinger into the game. Daniel Eichele greeted Bollinger with double off the right field fence to send home two runs. Eichele rode home with the third run of the inning on pinch-hitter Torey Bohan's single.

Minot didn't bat an eye. The Vistas immediately regained the lead in the bottom of the eighth as Teddy Anderson singled, was bunted over and scored on Fred Nelson's basehit.

Larson moved Jordan Huettl from third base to the mound to protect Minot's 4-3 lead and Huettl took the heart-breaking loss.

Minot took a 2-0 lead in the third inning when Lundy blasted his 21st home run of the season with a man aboard.

Hornecker's squeeze bunt plated Dane Towery with the third Vista run in the fourth.

Minot's first three runs were charged to Standing Elk, Bismarck's starting pitcher. Brandon Solemsaas took over in the fifth and threw three shutout innings before giving way to Kranzler in the eighth.

Bismarck coach Mike Skytland said his pitching changes were largely dictated by who needed to work.

"We just didn't want to extend any of them too much because we don't know how much they're going to throw at the state tournament," Skytland said.

Larson said the setback was hard to swallow in the wake of Martinson's strong outing.

"Jordan Martinson threw a heck of a game," Larson said. "You hate to waste a pitching performance like that."

3 NOTES: Mandan, Williston, Bismarck and Minot, have qualified for the state tournament. … In the East Region, Fargo and Grand Forks advanced to the championship game and Jamestown played Valley City for third place. Those four teams are also bound for the state tournament at Williston.

Bismarck 000 000 032 - 5 10 3

Minot 002 100 010 - 4 10 2

Josh Standing Elk, Brandon Solemsaas (5), Matt Kranzler (8) and Justin Connell, Torey Bohan (8); Jordan Martinson, Ryan Bollinger (8), Jordan Huettl (9) and Fred Nelson. W - Kranzler, 2-3. L - Huettl, 5-2. HR - Minot, Tyler Lundy.

Highlights: B - Zach Wentz 1-for-5, 1 R; Dustin Wenzel 1-for-4, 1 R; Standing Elk 3-for-5, double, 1 R, 2 RBIs, 1 SB; Daniel Eichele 1-for-3, double, 1 R, 2 RBIs; Kranzler 2-for-4; 2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO; Solemsaas 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO. M - Tyler Lundy 1-for-4, 2-R HR, third inning; Teddy Anderson 3-for-4, 1 R; Dane Towert 2-for-4, 1 R; Fred Nelson 1-for-4, 1 RBI; Ryne Hornecker 1-for-4, 1 RBI; Martinson 7 2/3 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 2 SO.

Records: Bismarck 28-18, Minot 49-10.

Mandan 12, Dickinson 9

Sometimes there's no substitute for experience. Ryan Schnell of the Mandan Chiefs got thrown into the crucible on Saturday and came out smiling.

Schnell, a 19-year-old who attends North Dakota State University, came up big in a relief role as Mandan downed Dickinson 12-9 in the Western Division Legion baseball tournament.

With the victory at Southside Ballpark, Mandan advances to next week's state Class A tournament at Williston.

Williston downed Devils Lake 11-1 in the other elimination game.

Williston went on to beat Mandan 14-4 in seven innings for third place.

Schnell worked the final three and two-thirds innings to pick up his second save of the tournament. He gave up only one of Dickinson's nine runs.

The squeeze was really on the right-hander in the bottom of the eighth when Dickinson, trailing by two runs, put men on second and third with no one out.

Jake Braunagel tripled to open the inning and Schnell walked Joe Kallenbach. Kallenbach stole second and Mandan brought its infield up. Schnell then got Tyler Steffan on a bouncer to shortstop Steve Pletan with the runners holding. Ben Skoglund popped up to first baseman Mark Frenzel and Ben Herauf flied deeply to right fielder Chad Brucker to end the inning.

Schnell, in his fourth year with the Chiefs, said he definitely felt the heat, his veteran's status notwithstanding.

"It helps a little bit," he said of his wealth of experience, "but it's still nerve-wracking, I'm not going to lie. But I'm a lot more comfortable out there than I would have been as a 16-year-old."

With the winning run in scoring position, Schnell said he relied heavily on his breaking stuff.

"You want to stay around the dish. … I tried to paint the corners and throw some offspeed so I could get some groundballs," he related. "… You want to make sure you keep the ball down. My curveball was working pretty well. I didn't have a whole lot on my fastball but my offspeed was working."

Schnell also picked up a save in Mandan's 6-5 win over Devils Lake on Thursday.

Dickinson pretty much buried itself. Roughrider pitchers Travis Tooley and Jamie Ollila dished out four walks and hit four batters as Mandan put seven runs on the scoreboard in the top of the first inning.

Brandon Coyle led the Mandan attack with four hits, including two doubles. He scored twice and drove in a run. Ryne Jungling singled twice and scored three runs, Mark Frenzel had three hits and drove in a run and Schnell plated three runs with a pair of singles.

Aaron Pavlicek blasted a pair of home runs for the Roughriders, plating three runs. Hearuf connected for a two-run shot.

Mandan 700 040 001 - 12 12 2

Dickinson 110 223 000 - 9 12 5

Jared Quast, Ryan Schnell (6) and Ryne Jungling; Travis Tooley, Jamie Ollila (1), Dan Berg (8), Jackson Wandler (9) and Alex Koppinger. W - Quast, 5-3. L - Tooley, 3-5. Save - Schnell. HR - Dickinson, Aaron Pavlicek 2, Ben Herauf.

Highlights: M - Brandon Coyle 4-for-4, 2 doubles, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 SB; Jungling 2-for-5, 3 R; Mark Frenzel 3-for-6, double, 1 R, 1 RBI; Schnell 2-for-4, 1 R, 3 RBIs; 3 2/3 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO. D - Ben Skoglund 2-for-4, 2 R, 1 RBI; Herauf 1-for-5, 2-R HR, fifth inning; Cole Frenzel 2-for-5, 1 R; Koppinger 1-for-4, double; Pavlicek 2-for-4, solo HR, second inning, 2-R HR, fourth inning; Jake Braunagel 2-for-4, double, triple, 1 R, 1 RBI; Ollila 1-for-4, double, 1 R, 1 RBI; 6 1/3 IP, 7 H 4 R, 0 ER, 5 BB, 3 SO.

Records: Mandan 25-30, Dickinson 18-32.

Williston 11, Devils Lake 1

Williston used three big innings and the sharp pitching of lefty Tucker Slagle to oust Devils Lake from the tournament in Saturday's second elimination game.

The winning Keybirds tagged Storm starter Josh Greene for three runs in the third inning and four in the sixth. They got to reliever Jaysom Miller for four more in the eighth to end the game via the 10-run rule.

Slagle, meanwhile, held Devils Lake to four hits, struck out six and walked none. His walk total stands in sharp contrast to his season average of better than a walk per inning. Tyler Sorenson worked a scoreless eighth for the Keybirds.

Andrew Leer led the way with three hits as Williston banged out 10 safeties. He singled twice, doubled and plated four runs. Cleanup man Tyler Liffrig singled and homered to plate three runs. Liffrig's long wrong-way home run to right field was his 20th round-tripper of the season.

Williston 003 004 04 - 11 10 2

Devils Lake 001 000 00 - 1 4 1

Josh Greene, Jayson Miller (6) and Jason Burdick; Tucker Slagle, Tyler Sorenson (8) and Doug Richter. W - Slagle, 6-2. L - Greene, 4-6. HR - Williston, Tyler Liffrig.

Highlights: W - Jason Marmon 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 RBI; Ryan Lee 1-for-3, 2 R, 1 RBI; Andrew Leer 3-for-5, double, 1 R, 4 RBIs; Liffrig 2-for-5, 2-R HR, eighth inning, 2 R, 3 RBIs; Richter 1-for-4, 1 R; Luke Aafedt 1-for-2, 3 R; Sorenson 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 RBI; 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 SO; Slagle 8 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 SO. DL - Josh Lagein 2-for-4, 1 R; Jared Preston 1-for-3, 1 RBI; Greene 1-for-2, double.

Records: W - 35-18, Devils Lake 12-28.